When it comes to smoking on the BWS, I've noticed that they do cook quick too. I haven't done a review on the BWS, but I do have to say that I've been more than happy with it. There are a few things that I've noted with my FatBoy. Moving your meat to one of the upper shelves can help form a bark. While the whole smoker is a nice temperature inside, I think there may be some dryer air near the top when the air first comes into the chamber. When I suggested using a full cake pan for the bottom I was wrong. I went to the store today (doing some BBb) and picked up some of the foil liners, they are in fact foil oven liners...which is good because they're fairly cheap. Putting this in the bottom makes clean-up even easier, because you just drain the water...dry and then oil (greatly reduced sludge). But the foil liner does a few things other than make clean up easier, it help conserve water. For those long smokes this will help the water last a bit longer. The last thing, that I think it helps with, is allowing moisture in the chamber...but a slightly reduced amount.

I know that you are comfortable smoking, and with a variety of smokers. While it may not be a HUGE smoker, it ended up holding more than I initially thought. This smoker really brings a new definition to your advice NOT TO PEEK. You can get a nice long smoke out of one load of fuel and one pan of water. It sounds like we have some similarities in fire management, although I think I may be started with a much smaller fire in the corner.

When I want a much cooler smoke, like for bacon or fish, I'll add only two or three pieces of lump in the bottom and light them. After they're lit I place one to two pieces of chunk on top of the lump. I don't add any water and this usually gives me a nice cool smoke.

I don't think I have done a review to look up, but I have gotten very comfortable with it.

Now I really want one I only cook for myself now so it is way to big. I am looking around at the smaller charcoal grills to see what I can find that would be better for 1 person. Or even a small gas grill(Yeah I know, not the same). The small Weber Q's have good ratings so that is maybe an option. I have one of the small Weber kettles and it doesn't have enough airflow to get to steak searing temps.

Not a wood burner, but the little Lodge "Sportsman" cast iron grill, is a very good charcoal burner for one. It's expensive as hibachis go, around $100. But if you look past the cheapo hibachis and look to how well the Lodge is made and how well it cooks, it's well worth it. No problem getting a sear, that's for sure.

i am not a 'cue-r' by any means, nor do i have the time, patience, interest or dedication that it takes to be a true 'cue head', but it seems that by creating a barbeque forum it would be a good opportunity to bring in new members with new energy to all the forums. isn't this part of what CT is all about?...building membership and networking and sharing information? if the cue-r's here are searching the internet looking for a decent forum and can't, then why wouldn't you want to create one here at home...just asking..god, now i sound like iceman!!

joey

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all Harriet Van Horne

There is a perspective from which your discussion makes sense. On the other hand, take a look at www.discusscooking.com for a counterexample. Lots of forums and subforums many only trafficked occasionally. A dead inactive forum about a topic of interest to a searcher is a site killer and an extra waste of administrative overhead.

The social group, allows a similar idea to yours to work within the existent community and demonstrate whether a dedicated forum is viable and still capitalize on the focused interests of its members.

YES, the Lodge is a very nice little grill, if you don't mind that it weighs about 200 lbs., (OK, so they claim it's only 30 lbs., but it sure seems heavier). I've used this grill a number of times easily w/ wood. I use nice real charcoal lumps that can be found in bags at your high-quality, but also high-priced grocery stores (Whole Foods / Trader Joe's type places). I like to jam a nice chunk of pecan or cherry or apple in there with the coals for nice smoking. It doesn't hold as much as a bigger unit so you need to pay a little more attention to it. It also doesn't have a top, so some improvisation is necessary. In the beginning I covered mine with an old washtub. Then I bought a junky giant Webber Kettle at a garage sale. I threw everything away except the lid. In a half-hour I fashioned a nice "holder-rail" out of some black pipe, and now it sits on top like a bubble. Yeah OK, lots of smoke comes out from the bottom, but it still works fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Not a wood burner, but the little Lodge "Sportsman" cast iron grill, is a very good charcoal burner for one.

I've enjoyed the BBQ Brethren and Texas BBQ Rub forums. They both have a number of competition cookers blogging on them, and the two forums have bloggers from around the country.

When I was in the golf course management business, and was doing a a fair amount of hunting as well, I would bring back a lot of game like venison and feral hogs. Our hispanic maintenance crew would prepare a "barbecoa" which involved a lot of wrapping loosely in foil and smoking with peppers, onions, and other aromatics. We used mostly mesquite and pecan because that was what was available, and we would throw in a couple of briskets as well. It was a different kind of smoking, and the crew turned out some really good stuff that was all served with salsas and peppers on tortillas. .

In discussing different varieties of wood for smoking, I've come to the following personal conclusions:

Mesquite is great for making coals and cooking steaks and so forth. In south Texas hunting camps, most of the cooks have a firepit with mesquite logs going full time, with a shovel to transfer the coals to whatever pit they are using. I have gotten where I am not particularly fond of it for long, slow cooks, but it makes the best steaks.

Pecan is excellent. We had a golf course in a pecan forest, so every time the wind blew we could gather up a ton of pecan wood. We even purchased a log splitter and had storage rooms to age the pecan. Green pecan IS NOT a good product to slow cook ribs and brisket.

Oak is probably my favorite for south Texas bbq if it is available. I might throw in a small amout of pecan or hickory as well.

Apple and cherry have become some of my favorites for home bbq. It's a bit pricey for large cookouts in this area, but I mix it with a little oak or hickory for ribs, pork butts, and brisket on my offset and WSM.

I have grown to prefer the lump hardwood charcoal in certain brands. It has a cleaner burn without all of the fillers used in briquettes.

As I have gotten older, I prefer a lighter smoke flavor as opposed to heavy smoking which can become bitter. I'm starting to get back into the Mexican style of bbq because I like the flavors it produces with all of the peppers. My youngest son is also a bbq addict, and we have had a lot of fun competing with each other on different styles of bbq. He likes an Asian touch.I

BDL:

Regarding your Klose pit, I think that is the gold standard for any type pit you want. We had a very large Klose offset on a trailer which we used in one of our operations. I also had a Life Tyme offset double door pit refurbished by Klose after it rusted out. When they got through it was better than when it was brand new. Being from the Houston area, I have gone through their place on several occasions. They know their stuff.

Can I get an OMG? These are exactly what they appear. Prime, dry-aged, rib eye, cooked over a live white oak fire.

The steaks were accompanied by brussel sprouts (yes, that is a 12" long suji, and yes, I do use it for general prep),

halved, sauteed along with some loose leaves to get some size and texture contrast and a clove's worth of very thinly sliced garlic in bacon fat,

braised southern style to a fare-thee-well to bring out their nutty flavor and garnished with the self same "lardons" which were cooked to render their fat; and cracked-wheat sourdough crostini, brushed with butter seasoned with the same "espresso-cocoa" rub I used for the steaks, and toasted over the same fire while the steaks rested. Oh, c'mon. You don't need a picture of crostini, it's just the pretentious word for toast with grate marks.

Moral of the story: Let the quality of the ingredients speak. For instance, there's barely enough "marinade" to moisten the surface of the steaks (note the proud display of 2 Buck Chuck, the ultimate cooking wine).

Even if most of doing this sort of cooking is simplicity itself, it's simplicity raised to an art form. Lots to share; lots to learn; lots of ways to skin the same cat better; and a few different cats. Is there enough interest here for this kind of cooking to justify it's own sub-forum?

This is a great forum, I do about 80% of my summer cooking out there on the coals. Especially with this new barrel cooker I told you about. Ill have to start posting up some pictures here as well, Ive owned this new rig for about 2+ weeks and already made 9 hour smoked beef ribs, homemade BBQ sauce with all smoked veggies, rolled tip roast steaks with roasted poblano and pepper jack centers, and this weekend will be carolina style baby backs, collard greens, grilled lima beans, texas toast. Expect pictures on Monday.

PS. On the coals subject, try smart and final you can get a 40lbs bag of mesquite lump for 15.00, kingsford original for 6-7 bucks 20lbs, and mesquite or apple chips for 1.99 per 3 lbs. Use a coal starter, never use lighter fluid or treated coals, a good mix of lump and kingsford is the way to go, combining the burn factors of quick starting and burning kingford with the low and slow lump, I use about a 70% 30% mix, mostly mesquite, just use the 30% kingsford to build a good base and to start your mesquite or whatever wood. I have also found that if you are going for a hotter faster burn you can start the lump charcoal in a starter as well with little to no problems, and add it to your already hot standard charcoal, it wont last as long but it is a much hotter fire.

One thing I do know, is that you're killing me w/ that 2BC. For the sweet love of goodness!!! You don't cook w/ wine you wouldn't drink (and nobody should ever drink that grape piss). There are far too many decent wines for just pocket-change difference in price from 2BC, that there is no reason to abuse food with that stuff. I'm dying here.

This is exactly the kind of subject that interests me. I don't know if it would fit this forum, but cooking over a live fire or coals, directly or slowly, is, to me, an ageless art, and I learn something everytime I light up the pit(s).

Quote:

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Can I get an OMG? These are exactly what they appear. Prime, dry-aged, rib eye, cooked over a live white oak fire.

The steaks were accompanied by brussel sprouts (yes, that is a 12" long suji, and yes, I do use it for general prep),

halved, sauteed along with some loose leaves to get some size and texture contrast and a clove's worth of very thinly sliced garlic in bacon fat,

braised southern style to a fare-thee-well to bring out their nutty flavor and garnished with the self same "lardons" which were cooked to render their fat; and cracked-wheat sourdough crostini, brushed with butter seasoned with the same "espresso-cocoa" rub I used for the steaks, and toasted over the same fire while the steaks rested. Oh, c'mon. You don't need a picture of crostini, it's just the pretentious word for toast with grate marks.

Moral of the story: Let the quality of the ingredients speak. For instance, there's barely enough "marinade" to moisten the surface of the steaks (note the proud display of 2 Buck Chuck, the ultimate cooking wine).

Even if most of doing this sort of cooking is simplicity itself, it's simplicity raised to an art form. Lots to share; lots to learn; lots of ways to skin the same cat better; and a few different cats. Is there enough interest here for this kind of cooking to justify it's own sub-forum?

oh my, what big uh,uh, brussel sprouts you have... holy cow! i lke them roasted in the oven just with s&p and olive oil...i know, get my own pictures! when i was the grill queen at a friend's restaurant a few years back, we had a 16 0z trimmed down rib eye called "da killer" ...yours have that same big look....god, we couldn't cut enough of them some nights...the texans just gobbled them down...hmmmm steak, red wine, bacon fat,...gout? i'm not a carnivore as you know, but yours were beauties..i say 'were' cuz they are long gone by now..next time a pic of the actual plating/eating please..... how do you empty the ashes? scoop it out like in a fireplace or is there a removable tray or box?. thanks for the share...nice that you are enjoying your newest family mamber...and this one can cook...and you get to eat your mistakes, although i'm sure you would never admit they were mistakes, just unplanned surprises!!...cheers..

joey

Edited by durangojo - 7/29/11 at 10:24am

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all Harriet Van Horne

Ashes: There's a capped, 2" nipple on the bottom of the pit. I put a bucket under the nipple, remove the cap, flip the charcoal grate up and against the pit's back, then use a small shovel to rake the ashes through the nipple and into the bucket.

Next time I'll show the plating, but there's not much artistry to putting a big hunka hunka meat in the middle of a plate and some veg on the side.

OK. Another thing that aggravates the ever-loving bageebies out of me. What I'm good at, I'm really good at. What I don't know so well, I haven't got a clue. This time it's brisket. I got a whole brisket, 17-lbs. I started trimming it out, and it was like having 50/50 meat and trim. That was the first kink in my colon. Next, I didn't know what I was doing. Was I supposed to cut all that globulous fat off? WTF? Is it supposed to have that much fat? Should I have kept some fat? When I was done trimming, I cut it into sizable pieces to fit into the smoker. I think it's actually this one here:

Not that it makes any difference. It's not mine. I didn't pay for it or the meat. LOL. Good attitude. Anyway, what I'm looking for is for someone to walk me through trimming out a whole brisket for the smoker. Any of you all know what you're talking about? I could really use an education. As per usual, TIA for your responses.

Some people don't trim at all, some people trim down to red, some people trim somewhere in the middle. I'm in the second group pretty much. I cut the fat cap on one side down to no more than 1/8" -- which usually means right down to the meat, with little pieces of fat here and there.

Don't try and trim the knob of fat which sticks out the side and runs between the deckle (aka point) and the flat.

Ideally, the brisket should be kept as one piece, rather than being separated into flat and point. It cooks juicier as one piece. "Juice" is a very big deal.

Most top competitors are injecting their briskets these days. I stopped competing eons ago, and didn't inject back then, but do now.

Most good cooks wrap their briskets -- usually in aluminum foil -- when the brisket hits the stall. If you're not wrapping, you're making your life much more difficult.

It's a good idea to keep some sort of water pan in your smoker -- especially in a drafty one like yours.

Barbecue is one of many games where "entry level" equipment is actually the most difficult to use. Unless I miss my guess, you're using something barbecue guys call an ECB -- which is short for El Cheapo Brinkmann. It's about as crummy a 'q as you can get, and still do a passable job. It's very drafty and fire control is not easy. If you're interested in smoking, and can afford something better, I strongly suggest you do so. The WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain) comes in two sizes. They're the best reasonably priced smokers available -- with the possible exception of their Canadian clone.

Do yourself a favor and avoid the small offsets sold by the big box stores. They may be better than the ECB, but they still make things much harder than necessary unless you do major tweaking. And even then... I used one or another small offset for decades. Trust me.

Finally, read this. It's a very detailed set of instructions which will not only help you to cook an excellent brisket, but give you enough information to put your own spin on it after you've done it a couple of times.

New smokers this year. We are going with a new design. Cans are going on top of each other. Center will be perforated with a v shaped piece of steel under to

run off drip. We can easily fit 8 butts or equivalent ,stacking from left to right on the re-bar as it goes up. We ran a test and were really pleased with the consistent temp

for a long period of time. The whole area of the can on the bottom had an easy time breathing with a few vents and a large dog house opening on the bottom for the wood..

The apple is all cut and we moved all the mesquite to a feeder near a tank. It will have a full soak. We decided we would not have the apple pit this year. It is just to dry. So we will use whole apple for our heat source and mesquite splits for smoke. All that's left is to have a neighbor tack some handles for the top can and a collar around the top of the bottom so the upper can can be removed easily.

Steve R. requested that I send him the results on the Dove poppers.

The ranch is a few hours away. For me, like other have said, it all about being with people. I get excited because I am going to spend 1-2? days with the local people. They are such

hard working people and so well grounded. I am fascinated to sit and chat about their way of life, stories of old, their traditions, beliefs and faith. The boys will use my real name

in the beginning of the day, and in the evening after (shorty) gets out the clear that he has hidden previously, my name slowly becomes (hey city-boy!).

The only little problem here .......... is that I know about, and how to, smoke and/or BBQ. What I DO NOT KNOW about is the piece of meat. I don't know the story about briskets. I don't/didn't understand how to properly trim it out. I tried best I could to, as Panini says, "scalp" it as much as I could. I also tried to cut it along what I thought was a sorta muscle separation. This was not my brisket, I was doing a job, for a paying customer. He was aware that I didn't have much of a clue, he still wanted whatever skills I did bring to the table. As for the ECB ... again, it was not mine, it was someone else's. I understand what you both told me about smokers/grills/ and such. I have at home one of the few rare Webber Gas Kettles. I have modified it a little bit and now use it as my smoker. It works very nicely. I'm pretty sure I spoke about it somewhere in a different thread. OK now. I've read both responses 3x each. LOL. Very interesting. Please though, tell me more about this hunk'o'meat. TIA.

Actually the point when removed from the flat after cooking and tossed back on to cook further is the best part of the brisket. I cooked a whole 17 pound flat on my Klose, at 225 it took 24 hours. Way to long for me these days! I prefer a small 12 pound brisket, only trim a little of the fat, put on the pit fat side down for most of the cook (my Traeger has a hot spot in the center, fat protects the meat), and cook until it hits 195ish and the meat is tender.

Panini using galvanized metal in contact with fire releases toxic fumes that can settle on the food and when breathed cause health problems.

I'm still not completely clear about what you are and are not asking. But I'll try.

The story about briskets:

A packer cut beef brisket is really two muscles. As a cut of beef, they're called point and flat. The point is also called the deckle.

The point has significantly more fat in it -- which can be but isn't always marbling. Usually it includes big pieces of fat. As panini said, the flat is usually preferred for most purposes because it's leaner.

The flat is the muscle which does most of the breathing. Even wagyu, CAB, etc., animals' briskets get a lot of exercise. That means they need special care to get them tender enough to be pleasant. Most people think "low and slow" is the only way to go about it, but plenty of guys -- including succesful circuit competitors -- go "hot and fast."

I've experimented with starting on the low side of low. around 225, and bumped to the low side of hot, around 275, to help limit the stall. It works, but I feel you get a better product by using a relatively steady temp.

Barbecued brisket must be cooked "beyond well done and into tender." When raw meat proteins get hit by heat, they contract and twist, but if you keep cooking them under the right conditions, they relax again (called denaturing). Usually that means an internal temp over 190 and a long rest. In addition, some proteins -- collagens -- melt when taken beyond a certain internal under the right conditions, and sort of "baste" the meat internally. The denaturing process accounts for why a piece of meat as seemingly lean as a brisket can be made moist, tender and rich.

The advantage to trimming down to the meat is seasoned bark on both sides. That is, except where the point and flat shield one another -- but there's not much you can do about that.

You have a range of trim options. Some people believe a healthy fat cap helps keep the brisket moist. There's no agreement whether the brisket should be cooked with the cap up, down or flipped part of the way through. In my opinion, very little to no fat is the right amount. You can trim right down to the meat and still get a juicy brisket if you do some other things -- the most important of which are:

MEAT MATTERS. The meat's quality matters -- a great deal. I'm not saying you can't make a juicy, tasty and tender brisket from a cheap piece of meat. But everything else being equal, a better piece of meat will give you a better result. Every time. Important brisket comps are won with BTC, CAB, Prime and Wagyu. Average rolled Choice doesn't usually show well, at least not comparatively. A 17# brisket usually indicates a large and older animal, possibly not a steer, and most likely a bad choice from the giddyup. And yes, we can stipulate the choice was the client's.

DON'T CUT PIECES. Briskets cook better as a single piece, not cut in pieces. It's generally a mistake to do any butchering beyond trimming. If you must cut, keep your pieces as large as possible. Larger makes the denaturing process work better and more evenly.

INJECT. It makes things so much easier and better, I have to question why someone would not inject. That doesn't mean there aren't legitimate reasons not to, but they're thin on the ground.

NO PEEKING. Keep the pit closed through all but the last part of the cook. That includes not checking on appearance and not mopping. You already know this.

WRAP. Wrap when the brisket hits the stall. Include some moisture in the package. Yes, this will soften the bark a little, but you can bring it most of the way back by unwrapping. I don't wrap the brisket loose, I use a sheet pan with a donut screen, with a mix of wine, stock and seasoning under the screen, and wrap the pan. Some people -- including (fwiw) Myron Mixon -- use a hotel pan with a steamer insert. Back in the day, old-fashioned pitmasters (including me) used to say: "wrapping is braising and braising ain't barbecue." Whether there's any truth to the statement, you get a much better brisket if you wrap. Remember what I said about "right conditions" when I was talking about the denaturing process? That's where wrapping comes in.

UNWRAP. Try and time the last 45 to 60 minutes and finish cooking unwrapped. This will help restore some texture to the bark. You can lower the heat if necessary. If you feel compelled to mop, that's the time.

HOLD. Brisket requires a long rest. It's part of the denaturing process, and a couple of hours is a reasonable minimum. You can hold longer without hurting it. I hold in a cooler, wrapped in cling wrap. This does soften the bark a little, but that's a small price to pay for the good it does for the brisket's interior.

Tight trim or not, you should do all of these.

Equipment can make a lot of difference. ECB's are notoriously difficult to manage, somehow managing to combine overall draftiness with a poorly ventilated fire pan. Additionally, their thin steel shells provide very little insulation and are very sensitive to weather. The most common ECB mod is not to wrap any part of the pit, but to drill out the fire pan so it breathes better. I know the ECB wasn't yours, but a lot of people do use them and they might as well have the information.

A word to Panini: Making your own pit out of whatever and making it work is "puttering," of the highest order, a thing respected by all men especially those of us of a certain age. I salute you. Buying an ECB is just a tragic mistake.

After the brisket is rested, the muscles can be separated and should be further portioned into pieces which are easily managed for slicing.

You can do a lot to compensate for a lot of brisket faults by how you slice and dip. If the brisket is tough, slice it very, very thin -- 1/8" if you can manage. If it's overdone and wants to fall apart, slice it thick -- about 1/2".

Make something like a butter-finished "au jus." If the brisket's dry use it generously to moisten the slices. If the brisket's nicely moist, use it sparingly to get a shine on the meat. FWIW, my dip and injection are usually one and the same; and usually a mix of beef stock, red wine, Worcestershire with some fairly mild seasoning (including thyme, fresh onion and fresh garlic) reduced, sieved, and butter finished. The idea is to lubricate the beef while making it taste more like what it is. It's not "barbecue sauce." A tomato based barbecue sauce is expected in most parts of the country, and should be served on the side or ladled on at the diner's request.

Given that it was a bunk piece of meat to begin with and a bunk cooker, I'm not sure I would have taken the commission without a lot of caveats and a good deal of pessimism. There's only so much you can do.

This takes us back to the original brisket questions. Ice, what happened with yours to make you start asking? It couldn't have been an unalloyed triumph.

Hey BDL .......... great response. I'll get back to you when I have enough time to answer as detailed as you ask.

As for the "garbage can grills" ... interesting. I've seen and used grills made from 55-gal. drums and beer kegs cut in half. I've seen competition guys use them too. I thought at the time that nothing else I've ever used could get as hot and hold as much heat as a full-sized beer keg. That idea disappeared after the first time I used one of those big ceramic jobbies. Anyway, my grill is a $108, inc. asmbl., otd. Char-Broil. That will be my brand-of-faith for a long time. My "smoker" is, like I've said before, a somewhat modified "Webber Gas Kettle". I'm happy with that too. I can't for any good reason understand why they stopped making those.

That you can cook a good brisket without wrapping is not in question, and I certainly didn't mean to imply contrariwise. For that matter, you can do fantastic brisket open pit -- it just takes a lot more effort.

I've smoked a lot of good great briskets without wrapping as well. I've been doing this for a long time, including catering barbecue in the early seventies -- starting with working for Willie Walker -- so perhaps have smoked even more naked briskets than you have. We used to sneer at wrapping back then, but we were wrong.

Wrapping makes things faster and surer with almost no down side -- slightly softer bark, maybe. Injecting is much the same. It does a lot of positive things, and nothing negative. So unless you have a reason, why not do them? Especially since what we're looking for in this thread is "surefire."

As it happens I cooked my last brisket -- first on my new smoker -- without injecting or wrapping, and with a temperature bump from 225 to 275 at the stall to boot, just to help get a feel for the rig and my new CAB supplier's goods. It came out fine. The next one will be injected, cooked at a steady 275, wrapped at the stall if there is one, or at 160 if there isn't (usually isn't at 270 and up); and be better still.

My "Private Chef" business is for 2 people ~ 200 people. A particular client that I have cooked many times for asked me to get him a number of meats, including two(2) briskets. As it was, I took Mrs.Client with me to the store so that she could pay (that makes it easier for me). She sees the hunks'o'meat on the cart and does a big "WTF?" kinda thing. Between the both of us we can't get Mr.Client on the phone, so she makes an "executive decision" and says only one(1). Now I don't know from briskets, so I figure it's easier to trim out nice pieces from a bigger cut (OK, maybe now I understand how wrong that was, TY). I get this slab on the table and it's like even huger than it was at the store. I spent what seemed like an hour trimming off fat (Mr.Client wanted down to the meat). I'm getting paid, I do what I'm asked. Mr.Client lets me know that the whole brisket ain'te going in in one(1) piece, so I gotta cut it up. After scalping off all the fat I disconnected the point from the flat. I cut the point into two(2) points and the flat into four(4) flats. I did sorta know that that was kinda sacrilegious, but I was still doing what was asked. Anyway, all-in-all, my "maiden brisket voyage" was a real experience. I came here to maybe learn something so that it doesn't happen again, at least not on my dime. Do you dig my story now? I hope I explained myself well.

Dig? Yes. Extremely. Knew it was something you got pinned into, because of all the wriggling and circumlocution. Had it been something you could control, you're mensch enough to have just spit it out. There had to be someone/something else, and talking about it seemed to be complicated by your desire not to be seen as an excuse maker.

That's why I asked.

BDL

You're obviously not an excuse maker or finger pointer; and no one sees that you way.